Are you ready to help end the gender pay gap?
Meet Sage, the star of WGEA's new campaign to increase awareness and understanding of Australia's gender pay gap.
Because it is your gender pay gap.
Perhaps you’re a woman earning, on average, $550 a week less than men in your workplace.
Or maybe you’re a man who is finding it hard to access paid parental leave or flexible working arrangements which would significantly help improve you and your family’s wellbeing.
These are some of the contributors to the gender pay gap, which ripples throughout Australian life and impacts every one of us.
And we need to work together to help fix it and help make workplaces fairer.
On March 4, WGEA will publish the gender pay gaps of over 9,200 private sector employers.
Many companies are making progress, but it’s slow. Far too slow for the many women and men disadvantaged by it.
Did you know only 56% of employers improved their gender pay gap over the past 12 months?
Men made up just 17% of people who took up primary carer’s parental leave.
And 1 in 4 boards still don't have a single woman on them.
The evidence shows fixing these imbalances is possible. It leads to greater productivity and profitability, and healthier, happier workers. Which means a happier, more productive, Australia.
In the lead up to the publishing of gender pay gaps, we all need to work together to speed up change.
At the centre of this campaign is an interactive game – hosted by our friendly and hopeful quizmaster Sage – to encourage Australians to test your knowledge and learn more about gender equality in the workplace.
End the Gender Pay Gap Quiz | WGEA
We hope it will spark conversations, and we encourage you to share your experiences with us through our social channels, as well as with your colleagues, family and friends.
Play the game and inform yourself of the facts.
You can then check your employer’s data – everything from the gender pay gap, the demographics of who is employed in what roles, to their policies on parental leave and flexible work.
Take a look for yourself at www.wgea.gov.au/Data-Explorer
If you want to take it further you can talk to your manager or HR. Ask questions. What is causing your employer’s gender pay gap? How does it affect you? And what steps are they taking to improve it?
Dig into the data. Find the causes. And help to end the gender pay gap. #sageadvice
Currently, women in Australian earn, on average, just 78 cents for every $1 men earn.
WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge invites Australians to join the campaign, take the quiz and help mobilise their employers to take action to address the issues that create the gender pay gap.
“We encourage everyone to work with our quizmaster Sage and learn about Australia’s gender pay gap and help share that knowledge – as well as their own experiences - with their colleagues, family and friends.
“We hope this campaign prompts a conversation, and encourages employees to seek answers for themselves about where their employer stands on gender equality.
“Every conversation reminds managers and executives of the importance of a workplace where people are fairly represented and equally valued."
WGEA supports employers to help them work towards this goal.
"WGEA has lots of tools and resources on the Take Action page of our website to help employers investigate and act on their gender pay gaps," Ms Wooldridge says.
"The first step is to conduct a gender pay gap analysis to see where inequalities exist and WGEA has masterclasses, guides and advice to help employers to do this.
"Once they have identified any gaps in their composition or pay, they can use our Action Planning Playbook which will help them work towards a solution."
One in three employers have not yet done a gender pay gap analysis to find out where their inequalities exist.
And too many people are still confused and conflate the gender pay gap with equal pay.
Equal pay is the legal requirement to pay people the same amount for doing the same job, or a job of similar value. This has been the law for over 50 years.
The gender pay gap, meanwhile, shows the difference between the average or median amount men earn in a workplace compared with women.
How you can be part of the campaign
* Take our quiz and share with colleagues, friends and family and start a conversation End the Gender Pay Gap Quiz | WGEA
* Check what your employer is doing to #endthegenderpaygap on our Data Explorer website
* When your employer’s gender pay gap is published on 4th March, ask what they are doing to find and address the causes and #endthegenderpaygap
* If you're a manager or executive at your workplace, conduct a gender pay gap analysis and then use WGEA's Action Planning Tool and Action Planning Playbook to fine tune your actions for real results
* Share your story about how you are working to #endthegenderpaygap on WGEA's LinkedIn page
Join the campaign
Learn where you went wrong, with a cheat sheet for the End the Gender Pay Gap Campaign Quiz.
WGEA has resources to support employers to investigate and act on their gender pay gaps.
Become an explorer of all the data of the thousands of companies which report to WGEA on gender equality.
